have you ever noticed that people who buy BGS

ydsotter

I don't sell very often on eBay... But ever since I had the good fortune of meeting guys like carlos, Factor_jim and a few others from the set registry board.... I have seen the light of PSA and slowly began selling off my BVG/BGS collection~
The set registry has also been a tremendous incentive.

~ I have put a bit of a premium on some of these BGS graded cards since I sunk so much into them... But these premiums are very similar to what I'd do with a low pop psa card...

I have some up on eBay now and I am getting hammered by BGS collectors like you wouldn't believe! I am getting the rudest and meanest emails from some of these people complaining that I set the bidding too high... That I'll never sell it etc... I have been called a few names.
or they want to nitpick about the subgrades... come on? what's 8.5 centering anyway?

I have rarely if ever had these experiences selling PSA graded cards.

so... I just thought I'd vent... it's somewhat humorous in some twisted way...

anyone else had an experience like this? Any theories?

(apologies to nice BGS buyers...)

-Geoff

HECK55

Geoff - You encounter all kinds on E-Bay or when buying and selling cards. It really comes out of these guys when they know they don't have to come face to face with you! I have not had the pleasure of the PSA verses BVG/BGS buyers wrath. The only one I had to complain was when I bid on his card. He emailed me and asked where I got off placing such a low bid on his auction? He proceeded to Rip Me a New One for my bid and wanted to know if I knew Jack about cards because his card was worth way more than my bid! You never know what these guys are thinking or what sets them off. I sometimes place a low bid as a watching only bid as I am sure a lot of others do. I try to save my regular watching items limit (now 30 - was 20 at the time) just in case I find something I want to follow to see what it goes for. What you set your reserve or opening bid for be it PSA or BGS is none of their buisiness - they don't have to bid do they? I feel the same way if I play third base at blackjack - I will play my cards the way I want to. They can play at another table if it upsets them. They probably were not going to bid on it if it went over $5.00 anyway. You don't owe them anything. Rick

HECK55

Geoff - By the way - you really shouldn't let those guys get to you man! I am sure you have considered this but if you have some good Beckett graded stuff - save them up and send to PSA for cross grades or break them out yourself and send them in. I have some saved back to send but have never sent them in for cross grading. Some of the other guys on the board have done this and had good and bad returns - still worth a shot if they won't bring a decent price on E-Bay. Good luck. Rick

brucemo

The thing that startled me about BGS buying and selling is attention to subgrades. When I was doing my experiments with BGS-8.5 Jeter and A-Rod RC's, I noticed that there was a huge premium attached to a card that had an 8.5 subgrade on corners, as opposed to 8.0, and that if a card had 10.0 centering as well, it would sell for a *lot* more.

bruce

helionaut

If PSA listed sub-grades, you'd see the same thing. BGS cards that have a 10 sub-grade, as well as those whose sub-grades are all equal to or higher than the overall, definitely sell for at least a small premium.

I've never had anyone complain to me about bidding low. I figure they should have set a reserve or a higher minimum if they did. And I'd retract my bid, too.

iBuyUsell

Well...this is kinda off topic.
I listed some BGS Baseball Autographs on eBay for $24.99 apiece. The auctions ended without any bids. However (2) fellow eBayers contacted me & offered me $20/card including shipping. I graciously declined their offer. On the free listing day, I relisted the BGS AUs at $28.50/piece & they sold!!

BigKidAtHeart

chalk that up to the fact that ebay auctions
get different people seeing them everytime
they are lsted... sometimes you just get the
RIGHT person looking! Way to go!

waitilltheytrytosell

ydsotter - The main buyer of a B-assorted card is a guy looking to pop the card out. It's either headed to another company's holder, or it's going to monkeyed with and sent back to squeeze into a higher grade. People want room in the price should they fail. They want no risk in what they pay. Your higher prices bring risk, and they don't like that. They want cards with a hit in a subgrade which really has nothing to do with the condition of the card. What they really want is for you to hand them over free money.

Virtualizard

Although not with BVG/BGS cards, I've had two recent experiences that come to mind. First, I listed a lot of PSA 7 & 8 common cards on ebay's free listing day that I haven't been able to sell before or it wasn't even worth the fee for listing. I listed them with low starting bids ($3.99 and $4.99 mostly) and received an email from a bidder saying he had placed several bids and would be interested in buying any cards that didn't sell. I can't see why you would not bid on cards that you're interested in at this price. I didn't reply to his email, but thought about asking him why he didn't just bid. I'll just hold on to them until the next free listing day. I did sell about 40 cards that have just been gathering dust.

The second experience was also with these cards. I list cards on ebay the same way most people do - PSA 8 NQ - NQ meaning "no qualifier". I received an email from a bidder asking me why the "NQ" wasn't listed on the PSA label. I laughed for a minute and then sent a nice response explaining qualifiers.

JEB.

MrKissKissBangBang

I listed a card on Freebie Day at a fixed price of $249. I had someone right away email me that no one in their right mind would ever pay that much for that card. Then they went on to explain (in 3 pages) how much better coins were than cards.

I simply pointed them to a web site of a big dealer that had the same card listed for $399.

Most of the time I will just explain that I would rather keep the card than sell it for any less.

OH and then there was the guy that said my card listed on ebay for $399 didn't sell and that he would "give me" $90 for it. I just said that is $309 below my ask price - and that we were not in the ballpark, if he were to reconsider, just email back anytime.

I guess what I am saying is, just have fun with them.

KKBB

waitilltheytrytosell

There are emails that are obviously from knuckleheads that don't even warrant a reply. They know what you're reply will be. They are just looking to screw with you. There are also the sort of emails that you really can't tell if they are coming from a very inexperienced collector, or just somebody looking to screw with you. Those emails should be replied to with a kind educating response just in case the collector really doesn't understand what it is you are selling. You don't want to turn the guy off from you or the type of product you are selling with the sort of response you might give if you though the guy might be screwing with you. There are new people coming in all the time who really know very little about the basics.

ydsotter

So much awesome advice... yeah, I checked the ebay ID's of some of these people emailing me to sell the bgs/bvg cards cheaper~ it's a mix of brand new ebayers... and some of these folks know more about what they are doing than I do... one guy spent over $6,000 in the past two weeks... mostly on cases and gem mint 10's from places like pro, gem, bgs, etc....
My creative respose was to offer them links to psa graded examples that they could acquire for less money... and I assured them that if they bought the psa graded examples that they's be making the wiser choice... I also pointed out raw card examples... or offered them for a fraction if I had them...
anyways... thanks for sharing all of your stories and experiences with other frustrating folks...
-Geoff